Sac Bee: Maloofs would embrace keeping NBA Kings in Sacramento

If a Sacramento ownership group can submit an offer that matches Chris Hansen’s bid for the Kings, the Maloof family would embrace a situation that keeps the NBA team in California, The Sacramento Bee reports.

There seems that it may come to that. The Bee now reports, quoting sources, that the Sacramento investors will match in their bid what the Seattle investors have offered. The bid is do late Friday afernoon.

And it appears the Sacramento bid has another big bucks shot in the arm. The Bee reported Friday that a former Facebook executive has joined the local team of investors.

Chris Kelly, a former Facebook executive who ran for state attorney general in 2010, has joined the investor group.

Kelly joins Silicon Valley executive Vivek Ranadive; members of San Diego’s Jacobs family; Sacramento developer Mark Friedman; and East Bay health club financier Mark Mastrov. A source familiar with the situation said the group has been speaking with Kelly for more than two months and his involvement in the bid was mentioned during the contingent’s presentation to the NBA last week in New York.

From left to right: Brothers George, Gavin and Joe Maloof watch a Kings preseason game in 2010. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Maloofs, who own 65 percent of the Kings, set a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday for the Sacramento group to submit a written, backup offer in case the NBA rejects the Maloofs’ agreement to sell their stake in the franchise to Seattle’s Hansen for $341 million. Now it appears, particularly after the NBA said Sacramento would need to refund Hansen’s $30 million deposit if he loses, that things are aligning for Sacramento to keep the Kings.

However, it will still be up to the NBA Board of Governors next week to accept or reject Hansen’s plan to acquire and move the Kings to Seattle. And to reject it, the NBA and the Maloofs will need to see a viable counteroffer from the Sacramento ownership group.

“We’re giving Sacramento every opportunity to keep the team,” one source told the Sac Bee on Thursday, “but they keep blowing every deadline. We haven’t seen anything in writing.”

• An agreement that keeps the Kings in Sacramento must include reimbursement to Hansen for his $30 million nonrefundable deposit.

• Before being completely surprised by the size of the Hansen/Ballmer offer, the Maloofs had rejected overtures from Ron Burkle and Larry Ellison. Ellison would have attempted to relocate the Kings to San Jose.

• The Maloofs have met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and have for months looked into buying a hockey franchise, with Las Vegas among the possible destinations. Their interests also have expanded and included opportunities in Major League Baseball.